Category: Benatar, David
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David Benatar on Death and the Challenge of the Epicurean Argument in its Hedonist Form
This is the sixth in a series on David Benatar's The Human Predicament (Oxford UP, 2017). We are now in Chapter 5. I will need to proceed slowly through this rich and detailed chapter. There is a lot to learn from it. The entry covers pp. 92-101. Does Death Release Us From the Human Predicament? Logically prior questions: Is…
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Anti-Natalism: Jordan Peterson versus David Benatar
A lengthy podcast. (HTs: Paolo Juarez, Paul Craddick, Karl White, et al.) I haven't listened to the whole thing, but I have heard enough to know that Professor Peterson is out beyond his depth and no match for the super-sharp Benatar. My ongoing series on Benatar's latest book is here.
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A Defense of David Benatar Against a Scurrilous New Criterion Attack
By a defense of Benatar, I do not mean a defense of his deeply pessimistic and anti-natalist views, views to which I do not subscribe. I mean a defense of the courageous practice of unrestrained philosophical inquiry, inquiry that follows the arguments where they lead, even if they issue in conclusions that make people extremely…
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David Benatar on the Quality of Human Life, Part II
This is the fifth in a series on David Benatar's The Human Predicament (Oxford UP, 2017). This entry covers pp. 71-83 of Chapter Four, pp. 64-91, entitled "Quality." In our last installment we discussed whether Benatar is justified in his claim that the quality of life is in most cases objectively worse than we think it is. (I cast…
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Anti-Natalism and the Search for Truth
C. L. writes and I respond in blue: You never seem to allow comments on the posts I want to comment on, so I'm forced to add another email to your overwhelming pile. BV: Well, my pile is not that bad. This is one of the many benefits of relative obscurity. And I am happy…
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David Benatar on the Quality of Human Life, Part I
This is the fourth in a series on David Benatar's The Human Predicament (Oxford UP, 2017). This entry covers pp. 64-71 of Chapter Four, pp. 64-91, entitled "Quality." The Meaning Question and the Quality Question These are different questions. Although for Benatar no human life has what he calls "cosmic" meaning, a life can have a high degree of…
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David Benatar in The New Yorker
This New Yorker piece is worth reading. (HTs: Dave Lull, Karl White) It helps clarify Benatar's anti-natalism. One feature of his position is that death is no solution to the human predicament. As I would put it, the Grim Reaper is not a Benign Releaser. For while life is bad, so is death. Not just…
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Mindless Hostility to David Benatar
A scurrilous attack piece in The American Spectator actually provides a bit of support for pessimism about the human condition. One ought to be disturbed by the inability of so many journalists to control their emotions and assess arguments in a calm and rational manner. The attack piece in question is beneath refutation and so I…
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Cosmic Meaninglessness and the Theistic Gambit
This is the third in a series on David Benatar's The Human Predicament (Oxford UP, 2017). This entry covers pp. 35-45 of Chapter 3. The good news from Chapter 2 was that there is meaning at the terrestrial level. The bad news from Chapter 3 is that there is none at the cosmic level, or from…
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David Benatar, The Human Predicament, Chapter 2, Meaning
This is the second in a series of entries on Benatar's new book. The entries are collected here. Herewith, some notes on pp. 13-34. Summary does not constitute endorsement. Note also that my summary involves interpretation and extension and embellishments: I take the ball and run with it on occasion. The sense that one's life…
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Is Life a Predicament?
My old friend Joe sent me a vitriolic statement in denunciation of David Benatar, both the man and his ideas. I will quote only a relatively benign portion of Joe's rant: I do not experience life as a predicament but as a great gift. I am surrounded by love and beauty, and even have been able…
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The Question of the Meaning of Life: Distinctions and Assumptions (2017)
What follows is a redacted version of a post from April, 2013. It will serve as a useful foil to my examination of David Benatar's The Human Predicament (Oxford UP 2017). ……………………………………… What are we asking when we ask about the meaning of life? Herewith, some preliminary distinctions. Existential versus Linguistic Meaning Those for whom…
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David Benatar, The Human Predicament, Introduction
My plan is to work my way through David Benatar's latest book, The Human Predicament, Oxford UP 2017, chapter by chapter. Herewith, some notes on the Introduction, pp. 1-12. I will summarize the main points and add such critical comments as seem appropriate. Benatar appreciates that the human condition is a predicament, an unsatisfactory state…